


a knight to remember

by thatsformetoknow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas fic, M/M, The Knight Before Christmas AU, Very fluffy, also shiros british, based off a very shitty rom com, hopefully its cute, i know its february, i tried to just use the idea and not really any of the scenes or plot, im sorry, its adorable, lance hits him with his car, shiro is a 14th century knight, shiro trying to interact with modern day things and failing, shiros a giant puppy, theres a few i put in tho, they fall in love, very soft, who gets transported to present day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:28:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22773367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsformetoknow/pseuds/thatsformetoknow
Summary: “You didn’t tell me you and Mr. Steel hotty hooked up,” Rachel said, slapping his arm.“We didn’t hook up!” Lance protested, rubbing his arm and glaring at her. “I uh… hit him with my car.”“You what?” She asked, eyes wide.“He’s fine! I took him to the hospital and he’s fine, but… he thinks he’s a knight from the fourteenth century, and he has nowhere to go.”“So, the hospitable and lovely person that you are offered him a place to stay?” she asked.“Exactly.”“And that had nothing to do with the fact that he’s drop dead gorgeous, and a perfect gentleman?”“Exactly,” Lance said. “Wait-no, it didn’t. I felt bad for him! I hit him with my car!”
Relationships: Lance/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 135





	a knight to remember

**Author's Note:**

> based off the really bad movie the knight before christmas 
> 
> also creds to hp for the title bc i wanted a pun but didnt wanna use the movie title

Lance followed his students gazes towards the clock that was slowly ticking towards the end of the day. It was the last day before winter break and it couldn’t come soon enough. He loved teaching, but he was tired, and Christmas break was long overdue. He still had so much to do before Christmas too, which he wasn’t looking forward to. Wasn’t Christmas supposed to be relaxing? This time last year he’d had someone around to help him, but this year he was all alone. He didn’t mind much, being alone; he still had his sister and her family, at least. Only that this year seemed to be turning out much drearier than the last, and with the seasonal depression sinking in, along with a nice touch of a healing broken heart, this was shaping up to be a great Christmas.

The kids were doing textbook work today, and it was a pretty relaxed lesson, but he knew that no one was really concentrating and chatting amongst themselves instead. Lance couldn’t blame them, really; it was the last period of the last day and then they were on winter break. Who _was_ going to be trying to actually learn shit? Lance’s gaze roamed across the room, watching the students who had sectioned into little groups, some chatting in their pairs and some absolutely not in their correct seats, but Lance didn’t mind. Some were on their phones and some were engrossed in conversation. He looked at the clock again. Ten more minutes.

“I really thought he was the one, you know?” Lance overheard two girls, Casey and Maddie, talking where they were sat near to his desk.

“I know, he’s an ass,” Maddie consoled.

Lance glanced at them and sighed softly. Wasn’t it the same with all men? Weren’t all men only out to break your heart? Lance didn’t know why people bothered with love still, when all it ever did was crash and burn and leave you to pick up the pieces. How was it remotely even fair that one half got to jet off to the tropics with their new girlfriend that they’d been secretly sleeping with for weeks, while Lance got to stay here with a broken heart, crying into his cereal every morning? Lance had made the decision six months earlier that he was done with love, for good. Any girlfriends he’d had in the past he hadn’t been good enough for, and they’d left him too, going off with some richer, more attractive man that could give them things that Lance couldn’t. And James… well, Lance _had_ thought he was the one. Turned out he was wrong. There was no ‘one’, there was only heartbreak.

Finally the bell sounded and there was a flurry of students scrambling to clear their things away and dart out the room before Lance could remind them of their assignment that was due in January. He feebly wished them a merry Christmas as they fled and moments later he was standing alone in the classroom. Lance too, gathered his things and made his way out, stopping by Hunk’s classroom on the way.

“Hey, buddy,” he said with a smile as he saw Lance.

Lance walked in and sat up on one of the tables. “Hey, how was your last day?”

“You make it sound like I’m leaving forever,” Hunk chuckled. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’ll be lonely,” Lance said with a dramatic sigh, and Hunk chuckled again, playfully bumping his shoulder.

“You’ll be fine,” he said, picking up his bag. “Any plans for Christmas?”

Lance blew out a breath and shook his head. “Nope. Go over to Rachels, I guess.”

“Not going home?”

“Nah,” Lance said, shaking his head. “Can’t really afford it, and Rachel would need three tickets, and it’s just… a lot of hassle,” he said with a frown. “But we always have a good time, so it’ll be okay.”

Hunk nodded in understanding as they walked to the front of school. “Well, I’ll keep in touch with you, make sure you’re not wallowing too much.”

“I do not wallow!” Lance protested.

“Yes, you do,” Hunk laughed. “And especially since James left,” he added.

Lance frowned, looking away. “I’m over that.”

“If you say so,” Hunk said easily with a shrug that told Lance he didn’t believe him.

Lance rolled his eyes and fished his car keys out of his pocket. “Stop bullying me and go and have a nice Christmas,” he pouted.

“Only if you do too,” Hunk said with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll be fine,” Lance assured him. “Give Shay my best, and you absolutely better send me pictures of that baby as soon as it’s born, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” Hunk laughed, giving him a salute and then wrapping him up in a hug. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah,” Lance nodded. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” Hunk smiled back and then made his way over to his own car, getting in.

Lance sat in his for a few moments, huffing a breath. Contrary to what Hunk may have thought, Lance _was_ over James. He just wasn’t exactly over the bitterness that came with cheating, or the loneliness that came after. He’d been alone for six months now, and while Lance wasn’t exactly a stranger to being single… He and James had been together for a few years, and they’d been close. Lance had thought that they’d still be together now, and in the future. Forever, really. But they weren’t. James was off with his girlfriend that he’d left Lance for… the girlfriend that he hadn’t had the decency to leave Lance for, actually, and Lance was here, alone. Fitting, wasn’t it? James was the asshole, and yet everything went right for him.

Lance picked up his phone, reading a text from Rachel and tapping out a reply, heading to pick up Clara from school instead of heading home. Rachel was tied up at work, and so Lance – being the loser with no life that he was – was of course free to go and pick her up, and take her to the Christmas carnival this evening. Lance didn’t mind, though, as he always liked spending time with his niece, and otherwise, he probably would have gone home and watched Netflix for the rest of the night.

Clara talked animatedly in the car on the way to the fair about her day at school and the different things they had done, and Lance thought that it sounded a lot more interesting than his, and why didn’t they do fun things like that in high school? It didn’t take them too long to get there, Lance hunting for a parking space and then helping Clara out, heading inside. Rachel and Michael wouldn’t be arriving for probably an hour or so, which gave him and Clara time to explore and maybe get a few last minute Christmas presents from the stalls.

It was pretty packed, kids rushing around everywhere with cotton candy and candy canes, wrapped up in big coats, hats and scarves, parents chasing after them. Clara dragged Lance onto the teacups and then the ferris wheel, before allowing Lance to take her around the stalls. He picked up a few more presents, and bought a few for Clara too, not one to be able to resist her puppy eyes, only on the premise that she could only have them on Christmas day.

Eventually, Clara spotted her mother and father and broke away from Lance rushing through the crowds to them, and Lance chased after her, someone bashing into him and sending both him and his bags crashing down onto the floor. Lance made a pained sound as he looked up, seeing what must have been an actor from the fair all dressed up as a knight looking down at him in panic.

“My deepest apologies,” he said, offering Lance a hand, which Lance gratefully took, watching as the knight quickly gathered his bags back up and handed them to him. “I was searching for my horse, and I didn’t see you. I do hope that you’re not injured, nor any of your belongings broken.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Lance said, shaking his head. He sure was good at staying in character, but Lance was much more concerned with his face. He was utterly gorgeous, for starters and there was a faint pink scar that ran from cheek to cheek across his nose.

“And you?” he asked, searching Lance’s face worriedly.

“Me?”

“Are you injured?”

Lance shook his head. “I’m okay,” he said.

The knight bowed his head. “I’m most glad. I can only offer you my deepest apologies.”

“It’s okay,” Lance said. “Honestly, don’t worry about it.”

“I fear I shall,” he said with a frown. “You wouldn’t happen to have seen a horse pass through here, would you?”

“A… horse?” Lance asked, tilting his head and looking around. “I don’t think so, no.”

“Ah,” he said, shaking his head. “Well, I must continue searching for him. I seem to be in an awfully strange place, and I could use my steed right now.”

“It’s just a Christmas fair,” Lance said. “Don’t you work here?”

“Work here?” he asked, blinking. “No. I don’t know how I came to be here, one minute I was talking to an old woman with Sherwyn, and the next… Well, I think your uh, friends are looking for you, so I’ll let you go…” he said, gesturing to where Rachel was looking at him.

“Lance,” Lance supplied.

“Lance,” Shiro said, taking his hand and kissing the back of it. “Sir Shiro. I am most pleased to have made your acquaintance and offer my apologies once more.”

“It’s okay,” Lance assured him again, giving him a smile, and then reluctantly turning away to join his sister and family.

He looked back once more as he walked away, already finding Shiro to have wandered off, looking around, no doubt for his horse. Lance definitely hadn’t seen a horse, and if he didn’t work here, then… why was he dressed so strangely? That had been a very strange encounter.

“Who was that?” Rachel asked, playfully bumping his shoulder as he came over to them.

“I don’t know,” Lance said, looking back at him as he walked away.

“Did you get his number?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows and Lance shook his head.

“No,” he said. “Should I have?”

“Duh,” Rachel said. “He’s totally gorgeous, and totally into you. Is he a worker here?”

“I don’t think so,” Lance said with a confused frown, turning back to her as Shiro disappeared from sight. “I don’t know, he was strange. Said he was looking for a horse.”

“Do you think he’s a real knight?” Clara asked and Lance laughed, ruffling her hair.

“I don’t think so, honey. Anyway, now that you two are here, shall we have another look around?”

“Yes!” Clara said excitedly, taking one of Rachel and Michael’s hands in each of her own and leading them back into the fair towards the teacup rides.

Lance kept an eye out for the rest of the night as they went round the fair, but didn’t see Shiro again. Lance went back to his car to put his bags away, before rejoining his family to go on the ferris wheel, and they stayed a little longer, before it started to snow, and then started to snow heavily. They walked back to their cars and said goodbye, Lance watching them drive away and then getting into his own car.

He loved Rachel, and he loved Clara and Michael too, but it made him a little sad sometimes. Rachel was younger than him by three years, and yet she had a husband and a daughter, and Lance had… no one. For the last few years James had spent Christmas with them, and things had been going well, and Lance had thought… Well, Lance had thought that maybe by this Christmas they’d be engaged. And then in years to come they’d be husbands, and have children of their own. But James had turned out to be an asshole, and now Lance was alone. He’d gotten by since getting over the initial heartbreak, but it was something about Christmas that made him feel all the more lonely; there were so many things that they’d used to do together and now there was nothing but bittersweet memories left. Somehow those memories hadn’t been tainted, and so Lance had to try very hard to keep it in his mind the cheating and the heartbreak so as not to miss him. They’d been happy, once. Lance had been happy.

Lance was almost home now, lost in his thoughts as the snow fell harder, wipers going fast to try and clear it as it fell. The vision wasn’t good, though, and then suddenly there was a man in the middle of the road and Lance was slamming on the breaks, but they locked in the ice and there was nothing he could do, hitting the man. He jumped out the car, rushing over to him where he’d fallen into a pile of snow to see if he was okay and-

“Shiro?” he asked. “My god, are you alright?”

Shiro groaned, not seeming to be too injured, and then looked up at him. “It’s _Sir_ Shiro.”

“What?”

“Sir.”

“Sir Shiro,” Lance said, confused. Why was he worrying about that when Lance had literally just hit him with his car?”

“You should tell your steed to slow down, next time,” he said, hauling himself up and wobbling on his feet a little.

“Are you okay?” he asked again, looking at him worriedly and Shiro waved him off.

“I feel perfectly fine, I’ve taken more damage than can be given by a rogue steed before,” he said.

“You dropped this,” Lance said, picking up an amulet that had fallen in the snow.

“Thank you,” he said, taking it from him and putting it back around his neck.

“What are you doing out here?”

“Looking for Sherwyn,” Shiro said, like it was obvious.

“But I mean… where do you live?”

“Norwich,” Shiro said. “Which, actually, you have a very funny voice, where are you from?”

“I…” Lance frowned. “Well, I’m from Cuba, but I’ve lived here for years. You… You’re from England?”

Shiro looked concerned now. “Is this not?”

Lance shook his head. “Ohio.”

“O… hi… o?”

“United States?”

Shiro blinked at him. “I think that I am very lost,” he said, voice suddenly small.

“Listen, we should get you to the hospital, you might have a concussion,” Lance said, looking at him in concern. How did Shiro not know that he was in America at all?

“What?”

“Just- come with me,” Lance said, ushering him into the car.

“You want me to-“ Shiro said, clearly alarmed, but got in obediently, looking around in wonder.

He must have had a concussion or something. Lance switched the engine on, and turned around to go to the hospital, Christmas music playing softly on the radio.

“Where… where is your singer? Where are your musicians?” he asked.

“What?” Lance asked, glancing at him. “It’s the radio,” he said, gesturing to it. “You can change it, if you want,” he said, demonstrating by pressing one of the buttons.

Shiro did the same, pressing a button and gasping as the music changed, and then pressing it again and again and again and again. He then started feeling around, using all of the other buttons, turning the air con on and off, switching the lights on and off, opening and closing the window.

“Sir Shiro,” Lance said and Shiro looked at him. “Hands to yourself.”

Shiro nodded, putting his hands in his lap. “So… you’re controlling the direction of your steed with this wheel? Does the wheel act as the reigns?”

“Uh… yeah…” Lance said, frowning. “I guess?”

Shiro nodded, looking around. “And your steed… it likes to sing. It must be very clever.”

“I mean…” Lance said. “I guess it is.”

Thankfully, they pulled into the hospital car park before Shiro could ask any more questions, and Lance took him into the er. They were waiting a while, but eventually Shiro got seen, and was given a clean bill of health.

“He seems to think he’s actually a knight from the fourteenth century,” the doctor told him in a low voice.

“He… but why?”

“Well, if he’s experienced a traumatic event, then it might be a regression as a coping mechanism. Perhaps as a child he had a special interest in them, and this is his safe space.”

“I just don’t know where he got the outfit,” Lance said, eyeing him.

“We can only wonder,” the doctor said. “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do for him. What he needs is to be nurtured, and to be shown that there’s nothing to be afraid of, and it’s okay to come out of this safe space. He has no identification on him, but if you’ve any inkling as to his family, or someone that might know him. Otherwise he’s going down as a John Doe, and he’s going to have to stay down at the station until his memory comes back.”

Lance sighed, looking at him. Shiro was sitting on the chair, swinging his legs a little and looking around at everything in a childlike wonder. He couldn’t just let him stay at the station. Not when he had a perfectly good guest room that Shiro could use. 

“I’ll handle it,” Lance said. “Sir Shiro,” Lance said, giving him a smile as Shiro turned to look at him. “Come on, you’re all good, we can go.”

Shiro got up, thanking the doctor profusely for his time, and then let Lance lead him out.

“I would like to thank you so very much for the kindness that you have shown me, Lance,” Shiro said earnestly. “I must now go and find somewhere to rest my head for the night until I can continue to look for Sherwyn tomorrow. Perhaps under a tree, or in an old barn.”

“You can’t sleep under a tree,” Lance said. “You can stay with me for a few days, okay?”

“I… are you sure? I surely can’t accept, you’ve been so hospitable towards me, already.”

“Come on,” Lance said, leading him back to the car and putting his seat belt on for him.

Shiro managed to keep his hands mostly to himself for the drive home, Lance wondering to himself what on _earth_ he was doing here. He should have just let the police handle it. He didn’t know Shiro, he didn’t… but… he had hit him with his car, and he felt awful, and Shiro seemed really lost and vulnerable and kind of like a lost puppy and Lance had always been a sucker for puppies.

“You have a very lovely home,” Shiro said as they walked up the path, Lance suddenly slipping on the ice, yelping as he prepared to go crashing down to the floor, but then slowly opening his eyes as he realised that there was an arm firmly around him, and he hadn’t fallen to the floor.

“T-thank you,” Lance said, looking up at him.

“You’re most welcome,” Shiro said.

“You can uh, let me go now,” Lance said, and Shiro cleared his throat, promptly letting go of him and letting Lance stand up again.

“Thanks,” Lance said, straightening his clothes and glancing around, finding one of his neighbours peering over their fence at him.

Lance lead Shiro into the house, leaving him downstairs and going up to make up the guest bedroom. Lance had only been upstairs for a moment when he looked out the window in horror to see Shiro circling a raccoon in the backyard with his sword drawn.

“Shiro, what are you doing?” he cried as he ran downstairs, scaring the racoon and giving it the chance to escape.

“You let my dinner get away!” Shiro said sadly, slumping over.

“Shiro, no, no, no,” Lance said quickly. “You don’t need to kill the wildlife, we have food.”

Shiro perked up a little. “We do? Did you already go on a hunt earlier in the day? I wouldn’t want to impose and take yours from you, I can catch and cook my own very easily, I’ve been doing it for years.”

“No, I didn’t,” Lance said, dragging him back inside and taking the sword from him. “We have a much easier way of getting food now,” Lance said.

He took Shiro upstairs to get him a change of clothes, putting his armour away and getting some out, assessing them. They probably wouldn’t fit him so well, so with a heavy sigh he opened up the box he’d shoved the clothes that James had left behind in, and gave those to him instead. Figures, they were a perfect fit.

They went back out to the car, and after buckling Shiro in, he drove them to the nearest diner. He honestly didn’t have enough food in at home right now, and he didn’t want to leave Shiro alone to cook something, so taking him out was going to be the easiest choice. He drove them to his favourite diner, getting them a table and handing him the menu.

“What is this?” Shiro asked, scanning it.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve never heard of any of this before… Cheese… burger? Hot… dog? Do they really heat up dogs and serve them?”

Lance opened his mouth and closed it again, signalling over the waitress and ordering for him. “No, they’re not really dogs,” Lance said. “Just… don’t worry about it, okay? You’ll like it.”

They were a couple of minutes into their meal when the door opened and Lance sighed as he saw who had walked in. It was James and his girlfriend. Weren’t they supposed to be going away for Christmas?

“You’re unhappy,” Shiro observed.

“No…” Lance said. “It’s just. Someone just came in who I didn’t really want to see.”

“Oh,” Shiro nodded in understanding, waiting for Lance to elaborate.

“He’s my ex boyfriend. He uh… cheated on me with the girl he’s with now, and broke my heart.”

Shiro frowned and drew his sword out of its sheath.

“No- no, no,” Lance said quickly, slamming it back in. “No.”

“But- he deserves-“

“There are _laws_ , Shiro, you can’t just draw your sword on people. Why did you even bring your sword?”

Shiro growled in the back of his throat but settled down.

“What about you?” Lance asked, changing the question. “Do you have someone back home? A fair maiden, maybe?”

Shiro looked down. “I uh… I did,” he said. “We couldn’t be together.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lance said.

“Yeah,” Shiro bit his lip. “His name was Adam, but… you said… _he_ was your ex lover? Was that… I mean…”

“Things are different now,” Lance cut in, picking up what he was saying.

“They are?” Shiro asked, voice small.

Lance nodded. “If you wanted to be with a man, you could.”

Shiro let out a soft shaky breath. “It’s not right.”

“No?” Lance asked, reaching across the table to take his hand, stroking his thumb over Shiro’s skin comfortingly. “Is that what you think or what you’ve been told?”

“Whenever… whenever we were together it never… it never felt _wrong_. It always felt…”

Shiro snatched his hand away as the waitress brought their food over.

“Sorry,” he said guiltily, eyes flicking to Lance’s hand.

“It’s okay,” Lance said, shaking his head. “Dig in.”

They didn’t talk about it again, Shiro thoroughly enjoying the meal as they ate, and consistently throwing dirty look across the diner to James, though thankfully so far he hadn’t noticed. Shiro was absolutely in love with the hot chocolate, immediately shouting across to the waitress for another round, before Lance had to apologise for him and calmly order some more.

They went home after that, Lance thoroughly exhausted and wondering if he’d wake up tomorrow and this would all be some wild fever dream. Shiro played with all of the buttons again on the way home, opening the sunroof up and looking out at the sky as snow fell right into the car on top of them. He was looking at everything with such a sweet innocent wonder that Lance couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed.

Lance showed him the kitchen, explaining where he could get some water or a snack if he was hungry, and then put some quiet music on in the background with his Alexa, which Shiro was absolutely fascinated by.

“Would you mind directing me to somewhere I can boil some water for a bath?” Shiro asked as Lance showed him back up to the guest room, getting him some pyjamas to sleep in.

Lance blinked at him. “Why don’t… Why don’t I just show you the bathroom?” he said, leading him down the hall and showing him how to switch the water on and change the temperature.

“But- how does it heat up?” Shiro asked in wonder, putting his hand under the flow.

“Uh… I don’t know, the thermostat.”

“Thermo-what? Where does the water come from? Why does it fall like a waterfall?”

“From the pipes?” Lance asked, hoping that that would satisfy him. Lance had never really thought about where the shower water came from, in all honesty.

“But where do the pipes get it?”

“I- I don’t know,” Lance said. “Just… have a shower, the soaps are on the side, and then you can get into bed.”

“Your kindness is much appreciated,” Shiro smiled and Lance gave him a smile back, leaving him in the bathroom, and hoping that Shiro could figure it out.

Lance went to his own bedroom, getting into his pyjamas and slipping into bed. It was a little while later that his door was slowly pushed open, and Shiro was standing in the doorframe. Half naked. He had on his pyjama bottoms but hadn’t yet put on his shirt.

“I just wanted to bid you goodnight, and wish you sweet dreams,” he said and Lance’s heart melted a little.

“You have sweet dreams too, Sir Shiro,” Lance said softly back, unable to stop his eyes from roaming freely over Shiro’s bare skin.

Shiro smiled at him and then pulled the door back closed, making his way back to his own bed. Lance huffed out a breath, turning over in bed. Tonight was… crazy, to be honest. It was crazy. Lance had no idea where Shiro had come from, or what had happened to him, or why in hell’s name he thought he was a fourteenth century knight, but… Lance was sort of maybe a little bit glad that he’d bumped into him. Not literally bumped into him – Lance was decidedly _not_ glad to have hit him with his car, just… everything else that followed.

The next morning came all too soon, and Lance wanted nothing more than to stay wrapped up in the warm blankets for a little longer. He tried to drown out the world for a little while, but there was the nagging worry that he could hear the television on downstairs. He definitely hadn’t left it on, which meant that Shiro had found a way to turn it on, which meant that Shiro was downstairs.

With a sigh he heaved himself up out of bed, pulling on a sweater and padding downstairs, finding Shiro slumped in front of the tv, completely engrossed.

“Hey there, how long have you been up?” Lance asked, flopping down on the sofa beside him.

“First light,” he said, not moving his eyes away from the screen. “Your magical picture box has me enchanted, I must say. I was conversing with the Lady Alexa, and then I sat down on this little black box, and it turned your picture box on, and… it holds so many secrets.”

Lance laughed softly, biting his lip. Shiro really had no right to be this adorable. “Where uh… where is the Lady Alexa?” Lance asked, looking around.

“I banished her to the cold box, because I couldn’t get her to be quiet,” Shiro explained, standing up and leading him into the kitchen. “I felt the punishment fit the crime.”

Shiro opened the freezer to reveal where he’d ‘banished’ Alexa to and Lance quickly got it out, putting it back on the side.

“Shiro- Sir Shiro, you can’t just put things in the freezer, okay? Especially not electrical things,” Lance said quickly.

Shiro hung his head. “You have my apologies, Lance,” he said. “I did not mean to cause offence.”

“You didn’t- this- listen, the Lady Alexa is expensive, and if it breaks, then I can’t really afford to just get another one, okay? I got it as a Christmas present last year, and I’d kind of like to keep it in working order.”

Shiro nodded. “Would you like to watch the picture box with me? I’ve found it to be a most enjoyable pastime.”

“Uh…” Lance said, biting his lip. “I don’t know, I’ve got quite a bit to do today, and my sister’s coming over in- oh fuck, like ten minutes.”

“Oh… fuck?” Shiro asked, tilting his head.

“What?”

“I’m not familiar with that word.”

“It’s- what? It’s a swear word.”

“A swear word.”

“Yes,” Lance said, unsure if they would have had swear words or not in the- whatever century Shiro was from.

“What are you swearing to?”

“Never mind,” Lance said, shaking his head. “I have to go and get ready, so just – stay here and watch the tv, and I’ll be right back.”

Shiro nodded, turning his attention back to whatever was playing, as Lance darted upstairs and into his room, peeling his pyjamas off and changing into some clean clothes, before going to the bathroom to make himself presentable. In all honesty, Rachel probably wouldn’t have minded if Lance had opened the door with his pyjamas and a bed head, but if Lance didn’t get ready now, then he’d probably end up giving in to Shiro’s suggestion of watching tv and then that would take a good chunk out of his day.

By the time Lance came back down, Rachel was already in the living room, sitting next to Shiro on the couch. Lance’s eyes widened and he grabbed her up, ushering her into the kitchen.

“It was lovely talking to you, Lady Rachel,” Shiro called with a bright smile, and Lance pinched the bridge of his nose, his sister giving him a catlike grin.

“You didn’t tell me you and Mr. Steel hotty hooked up,” she said, slapping his arm.

“We didn’t hook up!” Lance protested, rubbing his arm and glaring at her. “I uh… hit him with my car.”

“You what?” She asked, eyes wide.

“He’s fine! I took him to the hospital and he’s fine, but… he thinks he’s a knight from god knows when, and he has nowhere to go.”

“So, the hospitable and lovely person that you are offered him a place to stay?” she asked.

“Exactly.”

“And that had nothing to do with the fact that he’s drop dead gorgeous, and a perfect gentleman?”

“Exactly,” Lance said. “Wait- _no_ , it didn’t. I felt bad for him! I hit him with my car!”

“Right,” Rachel said disbelievingly. “Well, if you don’t want him…”

“You’re _married_ ,” Lance hissed and Rachel roared with laughter.

“Nothing wrong with a bit of eye candy, darling,” she said with a wink, heading back into the living room.

Shiro perked up at the sight of them walking back in, offering them a bright smile. Lance grabbed Rachel’s arm as she attempted to walk back over to the couch, glaring at her.

“Rachel has to go.”

“She does?” she pouted and Lance gave her another look. “She does,” she sighed in agreement. “My store isn’t going to open itself.”

“Yes, well thank you,” Lance said, gesturing to the bag she’d dropped off. “And have a good day at work.”

“It was most wonderful to meet you, milady,” Shiro smiled, and she looked at Lance, fanning herself as he shoved her out the door.

Lance huffed, closing it after her and then going to pick up the bag, moving to sit back on the couch.

“What is in there?”

“It’s a bag of decorations,” Lance said with a hum, opening it up. “Stuff we used to have when we were kids, you know? It’s tough not always being able to go home for the holidays, so our mom gave us these decorations to have here instead.”

“That was very generous of her,” Shiro said, trying to peek into the bag.

Lance laughed softly and opened it up, letting Shiro pluck things out and examine them. “You wanna help me put these around?”

“You all have very strange mannerisms here,” Shiro said, glancing around the living room. “Those lights that you hang everywhere that flash, shiny bristly things that you wrap around your furniture and you- you bring trees into your home and cover them with these decorations…”

Lance laughed, shaking his head. “It’s only for Christmas. They’re decorations, it helps everyone get into the spirit of things.”

“It’s very strange,” he said again. “But I would like to help, if I can.”

Lance nodded and handed him the bag, watching as Shiro started to place the little ornaments around the room. “How did you know about the trees? I don’t have one yet,” Lance said. Was this a sign that Shiro’s memory was coming back?

“I saw them through the windows of people’s houses, yesterday,” Shiro said. “I thought that maybe you were just being sensible by not having one.”

“I’m afraid that’s on todays to-do list. I know it’s only me here, but… Decorating the tree was my favourite thing to do when I was a kid, and it wouldn’t feel right not to have one.”

Shiro nodded. “So… where do we get one from? Must we hunt for a prime tree and cut it where it stands?”

Lance bit back a laugh. “They do that for you, and then you get to pick from the ones that they have.”

“Well that’s no fun,” Shiro pouted.

“Come on, I’ll get you some more clothes and then we can go,” Lance said, taking Shiro’s hand and leading him back upstairs. “I actually uh, have just kept all of James’ old clothes in the closet here, so you can just pick whatever you want,” Lance said, gesturing to the closet in the spare room. “I’ve been meaning to throw them out, but…”

Shiro nodded. “I understand,” he said softly. “I had a cloak of Adam’s that I kept long after we were no longer in touch with one another. I kept meaning to burn it, but I never could.”

Lance bit his lip and smiled softly at him. “Put some clothes on,” he said, leaving Shiro in the bedroom and pulling the door closed after him, heading back downstairs to fix them up some breakfast.

He switched the tv off and plugged Alexa back in, hoping that it would still work once it was thawed out a little, and grabbed a snack out of the fridge for them both. Shiro came down a few moments later, dressed up in James’ old clothes and looking at Lance with a bright smile. He lead Shiro out to the car and Shiro attempted to buckle himself in this time, but couldn’t quite get the hang of it, so Lance had to help him.

They drove to the shopping mall, parking and heading to the shops there, Shiro looking around in a childlike wonder.

“You never been Christmas shopping before?” Lance asked, knowing full well what his answer would be.

Shiro shook his head. “I’ve never seen a building so large… With so many things…”

“Just wait until you see an airport,” Lance muttered as he pulled him into a store. “I still need to get a present for Michael,” he hummed, looking over the shelves.

“Michael? Is he the man that holds your fair sister’s heart?”

Lance snorted. “Yes, that’s one way of putting it. He’s her husband.”

“Ah, and that lovely child you were with yesterday would be their daughter?”

“That’s Clara,” Lance nodded. “But I think she has more than enough already; we all kind of spoil her, me especially. You wanna help me pick some gifts out?”

Shiro nodded and looked excitedly around the different stores as Lance lead him through them, picking up a number of different things and asking Lance to explain exactly what they were and what they did, and if they could buy them. It took quite a while to actually get through the stores and find a present for Michael, Lance thoroughly distracted by Shiro’s childlike wonder at all the boring things that he was fascinated with.

Finally they were finished, and then Lance heard Shiro gasp and then lost sight of him. Lance tracked him down through the mall, finding him resting at the edge of the ice rink that was there during the holidays, looking at it wistfully.

“They’re beautiful,” Shiro said as Lance came up beside him, watching as the people skated around.

“You think?” Lance asked. “I’ve never really been any good at ice skating.”

“It can’t be too difficult!” Shiro said, looking at them with pursed lips. “It appears just like walking to me, just with a little more… glide.”

Lance looked at the rink doubtfully, and then back at Shiro who was giving him puppy eyes. Dear god, he’d only just met this man, so why was he heading over to the desk to pay for them to have a go? They put their bags down and put on the skates, Shiro excitedly bouncing on the bench as Lance did them up for him.

“I’m going to regret this,” Lance said as they stood up and he staggered over to the gate of the rink, looking at the ice.

“It’s going to be fun,” Shiro said, smiling widely as he stepped onto the ice, eyes immediately widening as he slipped, grabbing onto the railings.

Lance snorted and raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh?”

“So, it’s proving to be a little harder to navigate than first anticipated,” Shiro admitted. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun,” he said, letting go of the rail again and slowly pushing himself over the ice. He wobbled a bit, but wasn’t actually doing too badly.

Lance kept a firm grip on the railings as he put one foot onto the rink, clenching his teeth as he put the other on too, clutching the railing as he struggled to stay upright, blowing out a breath. Lance was more than content to stay here by the rail, slowly pushing himself along while keeping both hands attached to it, but it seemed that Shiro was actually getting the hang of this. He was gliding across the ice now with minimal struggle, and he had a contented smile on his face. He caught Lance’s eye, and glided over to him, holding out a hand.

“No,” Lance said, knuckles whitening from how he was gripping the rail. “No way.”

“Come on, Lance,” Shiro said, his lips upturning into an encouraging smile. “I won’t let you fall.”

“You’ve been skating for five minutes, Sir Shiro, I’m not entirely sure I trust your ability to protect me.”

Shiro snorted. “I’m a knight, what else am I going to do?”

Lance made a soft sound of complaint, but could feel his resolve weakening. Stupid Shiro with his stupid cute face. He slowly extended a hand and let Shiro take it in his own. Shiro carefully helped Lance away from the railing, holding onto him as Lance yelped, sliding around the ice.

“See?” Shiro asked, but Lance wasn’t entirely sure what he was referring to. Yes, he wasn’t injured yet, but for how long?

Shiro helped him along the ice, keeping their hands tightly together as they did so, Lance slowly getting more confident as they went, and… maybe this wasn’t such an awful thing, after all. It was kinda fun.

He yelped again as he missed his footing, slipping and god, he was going to crash- into Shiro’s arms. Shiro had actually managed to catch him and keep him upright. Lance clutched to Shiro’s sweater, breathing heavily as his brain tried to catch up that he wasn’t actually falling.

“I’ve got you,” Shiro murmured, sliding an arm around Lance’s waist to hold him close.

“Thanks,” Lance mumbled, still not letting go of the death grip on Shiro’s sweater.

“It’s my pleasure,” Shiro assured him, and Lance finally managed to pry himself off of Shiro, blowing out a shaky breath.

Slowly, Lance built his confidence back up, finding an actual smile on his face as they glided together over the ice, Shiro making sure to keep a tight hold on his hand and to pull him in when he wavered. This was fun, Lance could admit it. This was actually pretty fun. Lance wasn’t sure when the last time he’d been ice skating was. Or really when the last time he’d done something fun and spontaneous like this was, either. Sure, he did things with Clara sometimes, but this wasn’t for Clara, this was just… for him. And for Shiro, of course, and for all intents and purposes Shiro was a giant child, but this was somehow different. Shiro was intent on making sure that Lance was having fun, too, and it was nice. 

Their time was almost up, and Lance almost found himself wishing they had a bit longer, but eventually, they skated towards the exit to leave, an overzealous child zooming past them, and sending them both unceremoniously crashing to the ice, Lance shrieking. Shiro huffed out a laugh, rolling over onto his back and looking up at the ceiling, before bursting into a fit of giggles, and despite the pain in his limbs, it was so infectious that Lance couldn’t help himself from doing the same, laughing along with him until his stomach was hurting for an entirely different reason.

Finally, when everyone had stopped staring at them, and they’d managed to calm down, Shiro managed to get up, after trying once and promptly falling back down. He extended his hands out to Lance to help him up, and Lance gratefully took them, letting Shiro pull him to his feet. He then made Shiro hold him very close indeed as they made their way to the exit, only letting out a long sigh of relief when his skates were off and his feet were firmly planted on the ground.

“So, how was that, then?” Shiro asked, turning to him with a hopeful smile.

Fucking terrifying, Lance wanted to respond. “It… actually, was kind of fun,” he admitted. “But not worth nearly dying for.”

Shiro snorted and playfully bumped Lance’s shoulder with his own. “Trust me, I’ve been in many a near death situation, and this was not one.”

Lance laughed and shook his head. Shiro was impossible. Lance took them to get the tree next, Shiro sizing each of them up and assessing its practicality, though Lance wasn’t entirely sure what _that_ meant. Lance figured it would be easiest to just let Shiro do his thing and go with whichever one he wanted – it was just a tree after all, and Lance wasn’t sure he could deal with anymore of the questions; he’d thought he was done with that when Clara turned six.

Finally, Shiro settled on one, declaring that it was the best tree that they had to offer, and so Lance paid for it, and the employee offered to help them to the car with it, though Shiro was not having it.

“I thank you graciously for your kindness,” he said, heaving the wrapped tree onto his back. “You have swaddled our tree most adequately. I can take it from here.”

Lance watched him as he struggled with it to the car, opening and closing his mouth and giving the employee an apologetic smile, before following after him. They secured it to the car, and then Lance drove them home, stopping off to get some dinner on the way home. Shiro again insisted on carrying the tree to the house without any help, Lance laughing to himself at his antics, watching as Shiro struggled with the stand, refusing any help.

“I can help you with that, you know, Sir Shiro,” Lance said, a teasing lilt to his voice as Shiro growled in frustration.

“I can do it!” he protested, and Lance snorted, watching him as he struggled for a further fifteen minutes before finally getting it in there.

“I think it’s wonky…” Lance hummed, catching the panic on Shiro’s face at the prospect of battling with the stand again. “I’ll fix it,” Lance said, getting on the floor before Shiro could say otherwise. “Hold it straight for me, will you?”

It didn’t take too long to rectify it, and then Lance got the decorations out, showing them to Shiro.

“Let me put the lights on, and then you can help me decorate it, okay?”

Shiro nodded, watching curiously as Lance looped them around the branches and then switched them on at the wall, Shiro gasping as they lit up.

“Oh, they’re beautiful,” he said. “What do we do with these?”

“Just hook them over the branches, like this,” Lance said, taking a bauble and showing Shiro how to hang them onto the tree.

They decorated the tree together until there were no ornaments left, all of them crammed onto the branches and there was no room for anything else.

“I think it looks lovely,” Shiro said as they stood back to look at it.

“I think so too,” Lance said with a hum.

The lights twinkled in the dark room, it since having become dark outside. Lance switched the other lights off in the room and Shiro made a happy sound.

“It’s so pretty,” he said with a wistful sigh, gazing at it and Lance laughed.

“It’s still gonna be here in the morning,” he said, taking Shiro’s hand and leading him up the stairs.

They separated into their respective bedrooms for the night and Lance sighed, biting his lip. It was only now that Lance was realising just how lonely he was. He shook his head, standing up and going out into the hall to go to the bathroom, eyes catching on Shiro through his half open door. He was changing, so Lance should have looked away, but he didn’t. He’d pulled his shirt off, and his torso was bare. He really was just as fit as he seemed, firm muscles on his chest, though his skin was littered with scars. Lance really wasn’t sure what could have caused them. Could that have been the traumatic event that made him regress to this mental state?

***

Shiro was already downstairs when Lance got up the next morning. Lance pulled on his dressing gown and went downstairs, hearing faint humming as Shiro pottered around.

“Ah, you’re awake,” Shiro said with a smile as Lance came down. “Good morning, did you sleep well?”

“I uh, what’s all this?” Lance asked, looking to where Shiro was serving eggs on toast on the table. Shiro using the household appliances was surely a good sign, no?

“Well, once I figured out that the top of that black box makes fire like a tiny little camp stove, it was easy.”

“Of course,” Lance said, lips curling in amusement. “Did you do much cooking as a knight?”

“Regretfully, no,” Shiro said, shaking his head. “We always had the servants do that for us. But I’d watched enough times to know how.”

Lance hummed and sat down, taking a bite of his food. “This is really good, Sir Shiro.”

“Shiro,” Shiro said and Lance tilted his head. “You don’t need the formalities anymore now that we are familiar.”

“Shiro,” Lance agreed. “So… you watched the servants closely enough to know how to make _perfect_ eggs?”

Shiro looked down guiltily. “Well… just one servant, actually.”

Lance nodded knowingly. “Was it… Adam?”

Shiro gave a small nod. “Eventually I had to find another servant, being around him was just… too hard.”

“I’m sorry,” Lance said with a small frown. “I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”

“It’s alright,” Shiro said, shaking his head. “It was very difficult at the time, but a couple of years have passed now, so it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Well, I’m glad, then,” Lance said, reaching out to take Shiro’s hand. “And thank you again for making breakfast.”

“You’re most welcome,” Shiro said with a smile, giving Lance’s hand a soft squeeze. “Do we have an agenda for the day? I’d quite like to investigate your magical picture box some more, if that’s quite alright with you.”

Lance nodded. “That’s fine,” he said. “I’ve got a couple of things to do, but you can stay here.”

Shiro bit his lip. “Well… I was rather hoping that you’d sit with me, and that we could watch together.”

“I…” Lance started. “Okay,” he said, giving in far too easily.

After they’d finished with breakfast they both settled down onto the sofa, Lance bundling them up with blankets and leaning against Shiro’s side as they flipped through different holiday movies to watch. They got through about four before Lance was feeling sleepy, head rolling onto Shiro’s shoulder as he let out a soft sleepy sigh. He wasn’t quite asleep yet, but he was feeling very warm and comfortable, and a nice nap here didn’t sound like too bad of an idea.

He felt Shiro shift to accommodate him, gently brushing some hair out of his face and Lance did his best not to move. Shiro shifted them so that they were lying longways across the sofa, with Lance laying against his chest. Lance should have gotten up then, this was going too far, and he’d just met the man, but… There was just something about Shiro that was familiar and safe. It was in the way that he was gently stroking his fingertips down Lance’s back and holding him so tenderly as not to wake him up. Having a nap wouldn’t hurt anyone.

When Lance awoke it was getting dark outside and Shiro had fallen asleep too. The last movie had ended and the glow of the television was illuminating the room softly. Lance sat up a little, being careful not to wake him, and looked at him. Shiro was very handsome, really. One of the most attractive people that Lance had ever met. He had a shock of white hair at the front, and Lance was unsure how that had come to be, as he wasn’t exactly sure that Shiro would have had access to bleach. Who was he kidding? Of course Shiro would have had access to bleach; it wasn’t like he was _actually_ a fourteenth century knight… It was just impossible.

He did wonder about his scars though. He had only seen them from a distance, but he couldn’t help but wonder if they littered the rest of his body, too. And the one that went right across the bridge of his nose from cheek to cheek. How had he gotten that one?

“Are you enjoying the view?” Shiro asked without opening his eyes, voice thick and raspy with sleep.

“What?” Lance squeaked. “I wasn’t-“

Shiro breathed a low throaty chuckle. “Yes you were,” he said, cracking an eye open to find Lance only inches away from him.

“I was just…” Lance said, moving back a little and looking at him thoughtfully.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Shiro asked.

“About what?”

“That I’m really a knight,” he said. “You think I’m… confused.”

“I don’t know,” Lance said. “Time travel isn’t possible.”

“Just because you don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it isn’t possible,” Shiro said. “I wish I knew why I was here. It’s all so… strange and confusing. I met with an old woman in the woods, and she told me that here I would find my quest to become a true knight. The next thing I knew… here I was, knocking you down onto the ground.”

Lance bit his lip, slowly reaching out to brush the white hair from Shiro’s face, holding it off for a moment before letting it flop back in place. “How did you get all of your scars?”

Shiro looked down. “Fighting a bear,” he said. Lance blinked. “I uh… Adam was sick. No one would do anything because he was just a servant… he wasn’t important. So I had to go alone. I managed to find out what I would need to heal him, and I went in the middle of the night. It was dangerous, and… I nearly lost my arm in the process,” he said, rolling up his sleeve to show Lance the scarring. “That’s where I got this, too,” he said, gesturing to his hair. “Trauma, or something, they said.”

“Jesus,” Lance said. “That sounds awful. Was Adam okay?”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah, I got what I needed.”

“You went through all of that for him and you still couldn’t be together,” Lance said sadly.

“We couldn’t have been together even if he had been a girl. He was a servant and I was a knight.”

They were both quiet for a moment before Shiro spoke up again.

“Do you still think I’ve fabricated this all?”

Lance let out a breath. “I don’t know _what_ to think, Shiro… I… I believe you, I just… I don’t know how it’s possible.”

“I don’t either,” Shiro said. “But here we are.”

“Here we are,” Lance agreed. “Do you want to watch another movie?”

Shiro nodded. “They’ve been spectacular so far, I must say.”

Lance laughed softly, settling back against Shiro’s chest and grabbing the remote up. He switched another one on and Shiro’s hands settled in his hair, gently stroking through it as they watched. Lance was screwed. He knew it. He was fucking screwed.

***

“What are you doing?” Shiro asked as he came into the kitchen, Lance wrapping Christmas presents on the counter.

“Oh hey, good morning,” Lance smiled. Though Lance hadn’t yet seen him today, Shiro looked like he’d been up for hours. “How did you sleep?”

“I must confess not too well,” Shiro said, looking down. “I found uh… I found a box of little picture pieces in a drawer in my room, and I was up most of the night trying to complete it. Then I woke up again this morning and decided to do it again.”

Lance bit his lip as he tried to stop himself from laughing. Shiro had been up all night doing a jigsaw puzzle? “And? Did you manage?”

“I believe so,” Shiro nodded. “The image didn’t look exactly like the one depicted on the box, but I figure that that’s only there to guide you. I took a few creative liberties with it.”

“Of course you did,” Lance said, shaking his head with a smile. “You wanna help me with this?”

“Of course!” Shiro said enthusiastically. “What… exactly _is_ this?”

“I’m wrapping presents,” Lance said. “We’re going to see Rachel later and then tomorrow is a Christmas party and we need to bake cookies in the morning, okay?”

“Uh… yes?” Shiro said.

“All you have to do, is fold the paper around the gift, and tape it closed, okay?” Lance asked, showing him what to do.

“Right,” Shiro said, clearly unconvinced.

Lance handed him one of Clara’s presents and Shiro followed along carefully as Lance demonstrated on another one. It took a few attempts, but Shiro soon got the hang of things and they were finished wrapping the presents in no time.

“You go and have a shower, and I’ll make us something to eat, okay?” Lance said, and Shiro nodded.

Lance set about making them some omelettes, humming to himself. It wasn’t too long before Shiro came back downstairs and Lance turned around with a smile, opening and closing his mouth again as he saw him.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked.

“What do you mean?” Shiro asked, brow furrowing in confusion.

“You’re not dressed!” Lance said, gesturing to Shiro’s state of- being in a towel, still with water droplets clinging to his skin.

“Ah, well you see I cannot clothe myself while I’m still wet,” he said, sitting down on one of the stools.

“That’s what the towel is for,” Lance said.

“Oh, really? I’ve always preferred to let myself air dry, or warm by a nice open fire.”

Lance pursed his lips. “Well, I’m afraid it isn’t very polite to go parading around someone’s house naked.”

“I’m not naked,” Shiro said indignantly.

“You might as well be,” Lance said, rolling his eyes.

“However am I supposed to dry myself with this thing? It’s already all wet,” Shiro said, standing up and whipping the towel off, scrubbing at his skin with it.

Lance yelped and quickly covered his eyes. “Shiro!”

“Sorry! Sorry,” he said, and when Lance peeked from behind his eyes he was covered again.

Lance huffed. “Fine, if you want to go and light the fire in the living room, then do. But just this once, okay?”

Shiro nodded eagerly, going into the living room and Lance could hear him fiddling with the fire. He blew out a long breath, hand on his chest. Shiro was going to kill him. Shiro absolutely could not just strip off like that right in front of him, Lance was going to have a heart attack. A big gay heart attack.

Lance finished cooking the omelette’s, serving them up onto the plates and putting them on the counter. He took a few steps towards the living room, peering through the door to see Shiro standing naked, facing the fire. Lance let his eyes linger momentarily, before sharply inhaling and turning away.

“Shiro, breakfast’s ready,” he called, going to sit down at the counter and wait for him.

Shiro appeared after a few moments, a blanket wrapped around him instead of a towel.

“You don’t wanna go and put some clothes on?” Lance asked, an amused smile on his face.

“I don’t want my food to get cold when you so thoughtfully prepared it for me,” Shiro pouted, sitting down and picking up his cutlery.

“I’ll let it slide,” Lance said, doing the same. “But for future reference, you _can’t_ walk naked around my house.”

“Are we not familiar now?”

“Yes, but-!” Lance protested. “That’s just not something you do, you’re going to give me a heart attack.”

Shiro looked wounded. “Is the sight of me that awful?”

“Quite the opposite,” Lance muttered. “Shiro, please.”

“I’m incredibly sorry, Lance,” Shiro said, looking down. “I haven’t meant to offend you when you’ve been so very kind to me.”

“You’re fine,” Lance said, shaking his head. “Don’t worry.” Lance hadn’t meant to make Shiro look like a kicked puppy. “Let’s go and get dressed and then we can go.”

Shiro nodded and stood up, wrapping the blanket around himself like a cape and charging off towards the stairs, leaving Lance giggling in the kitchen. He followed up after him, going into his own room to get dressed. Life certainly was never boring anymore now that Shiro was around.

“What date is it today?” Shiro asked once they were in the car.

“It’s the twenty-third,” Lance said with a hum. “Christmas Eve tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Shiro said with a frown. “I didn’t realise the days had been passing so quickly.”

“Yeah, I guess they have,” Lance nodded. It had been what… the eighteenth when they’d met?

“My little brother’s being knighted on Christmas day, I’d hoped that I would have been back for that…” he said sadly. “He’s been looking forward to it his whole life.”

“I’m sorry,” Lance said softly, glancing at him. “You’ve really no idea how to get back?” Lance didn’t want Shiro to go, but realistically, he knew that eventually he’d have to.

“Well… the old woman told me that I had until Christmas Eve to complete my quest and become a true knight. I have no idea what my quest is, though… So how am I supposed to complete it? If I knew what it was then that would be another thing, but… How am I supposed to complete it by tomorrow?”

“I don’t know,” Lance said, furrowing his brows. “Well… I know you want to get back home, but… if it does turn out that you can’t, then you’ll always have somewhere to stay with me, okay?”

“Thank you,” Shiro said, giving him a small smile. “I really do appreciate that.”

“It’s no big deal,” Lance said with a shrug. “You’re good company.”

“You’re lonely,” Shiro observed and Lance opened his mouth.

“Well,” he said. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

“I’m sorry,” Shiro said. “Were you really _really_ in love with him?”

“Yeah,” Lance said, pulling into his sister's drive and switching off the engine. “But that was a lot of months ago now. I don’t miss _him_ , because he was a dick. I just miss the company, I guess.”

“But I’m good company?” Shiro asked hopefully.

“You are,” Lance nodded. “But, if I can help you figure out your quest, then I will, okay?”

“Thank you,” Shiro said with a smile as Lance unbuckled their seatbelts.

“Can you grab the present bag for me?” Lance asked, and Shiro nodded, getting it out the back. “Oh, also,” Lance said, stopping. “I can’t really ask them to call you Sir Shiro, because they wouldn’t understand, is that okay?”

Shiro nodded. “Any family of yours are friends of mine,” he smiled.

Lance smiled back, taking Shiro’s hand and leading him up to the front door, ringing the bell. Rachel answered a moment later, eyes dropping suspiciously down to their joined hands, and Lance almost dropped it instinctively, but thought better of it.

They came in and said their hellos, Lance unpacking their wrapped presents under the tree, and Shiro sat down with Clara on the floor, and in no time, they were playing with her figures, immersed in a game together.

“So…” Michael said, sitting down next to him. “Is this your boyfriend?”

“Uh… no,” Lance said, shaking his head.

“No? You guys seem pretty loved up,” he observed as Shiro caught Lance’s eye and gave him a wide smile.

“No, I’m just… helping him out,” Lance said.

“But…?” Rachel asked, sitting down on the other side of him and handing him a drink.

“But… I’m maybe starting to fall for him,” Lance admitted. “Just a little bit.”

“Oh, Lance,” Rachel said. “Why don’t you just ask him out?”

“Because… he’s supposed to be going home soon. He’s not from around here, or… anywhere close to here at _all_ in fact, and I may not see him again. I don’t want to get too attached.”

“He clearly likes you back,” she said, nudging him as Shiro looked up at him again.

“Can we just drop it for now?” Lance asked with a soft sigh and she nodded.

Shiro beckoned him to go and sit on the floor with them, and Lance did, sliding off of the couch and sitting by them on the floor.

“What are we playing?” Lance asked.

“Knights and Princesses,” Clara said. “Sir Shiro told me that he’s a real life knight!”

“Did he?” Lance asked with a soft laugh as Shiro looked at him worriedly, anxious that he hadn’t been supposed to say that. “And what about you? Are you a real life princess?”

“Can I be?” she asked, eyes wide.

“Of course you can,” Shiro nodded. “You’re a fine fair maiden, you’d make a splendid princess.”

“Princess Clara,” she said with a nod. “Uncle Lance, what are you going to be? You can be the big scary dragon.”

“Do I look like a big scary dragon to you?” Lance asked, feigning a gasp.

“But what else is Sir Shiro going to save me from?” she asked. “You have to be the scary dragon, so that the knight can save the princess!”

“Okay, okay,” Lance nodded.

They played for a good few hours until it was time for Clara to go to bed. Shiro was really good with her, and Lance actually ended up having a lot of fun. Lance took Clara up to get ready for bed after Shiro told her a bedtime story cuddled up on the couch. Lance _really_ didn’t want Shiro to go.

“Are you gonna marry Shiro?” Clara asked as Lance tucked her up in bed. “Then you can be a real prince.”

“Marry?” Lance asked, eyes wide. “I don’t think so, honey.”

“But then you can be a prince!”

“I’m not sure that’s how it works,” Lance laughed, kissing her forehead and switching out the light. “Have sweet dreams, okay? I’ll see you on Christmas morning.”

“Is Shiro gonna come too?”

“Uh huh,” Lance nodded.

“Okay,” she nodded.

“Have sweet dreams, princess,” Lance said, gently stroking her hair and then getting up, going back downstairs.

The three of them were talking and laughing together, Shiro fitting right in, all drinking some sort of mulled wine.

“Lance, there you are,” Rachel said. “Let me get you another drink.”

“I’m driving,” Lance said, shaking his head and Rachel pouted. “We should probably head out soon, anyway, the snow’s supposed to get pretty bad tonight.”

They talked for a little while longer, before Lance managed to pry Shiro away, promising that they’d be back again on Christmas morning.

“Your family is really nice,” Shiro said with a happy sigh as they got into the car and Lance started to drive them home.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “They’re the best.”

They didn’t say anything else on the way home, but when they got there, Shiro started going through Lance’s cupboards. Lance watched him in amusement until Shiro found what he was looking for, pulling out another bottle of wine.

“Really?” Lance asked with a smile.

“You didn’t get to have any!”

Lance gave in pretty quickly, and opened it up, pouring them both a glass.

“You all have very fancy glasses,” Shiro said as he held it delicately. “We just have… not these.”

Lance laughed. “They’re refined.”

“Ooh,” Shiro said with a giggle.

They ended up breaking out another bottle not too long after, and Lance put some quiet Christmas music on Alexa in the background, which sparked another session of Alexa-induced wonder, though this time they were both mildly drunk, so it was a lot funnier.

They soon finished the other bottle, giggling to themselves, and Shiro had one arm around Lance’s back, and Lance had one arm draped around Shiro’s neck. They were close, and dancing slowly to the music, Shiro helplessly trying to sing along to the words that he didn’t know, and Lance furiously giggling as they stumbled around.

Eventually, they both collapsed down onto the sofa, and Shiro groaned.

“I don’t want to get up,” he said.

“Then don’t,” Lance said with a sigh, draping himself over Shiro and closing his eyes.

“We might be cold,” Shiro said, though laid down, pulling Lance firmly against him.

“Feels warm to me,” Lance mumbled, eyes already drooping as he nuzzled into Shiro’s body.

Shiro hummed in agreement, own eyes falling closed and the two of them were asleep in moments.

***

When Lance woke up he was aware of fingertips softly lacing through his hair. He wasn’t very comfortable and ached all over, but he didn’t want to move. He was still nestled against Shiro’s chest, and they hadn’t moved much in the night, but it was decidedly colder down here than it was upstairs, say, in the comfort of Lance’s bed.

Lance yawned and shifted, and Shiro immediately stopped his movements. Lance smiled softly to himself; was he embarrassed?

“Morning,” Lance said with a hum, sleepily looking up at him.

“Morning,” Shiro replied, voice a little gravelly from sleep.

“Did you sleep okay?” Lance asked.

“Not terrible,” Shiro nodded. “I think next time migrating upstairs wouldn’t be too awful of an idea.”

Lance laughed. “I think you could be right,” he nodded, sitting up and stretching, and Lance was acutely aware of Shiro’s hand resting in the dip of his waist.

“What’s on the agenda for today?” Shiro asked, resting an arm behind his head and looking up at Lance.

“Well, we have a Christmas Eve party this evening, and we need to take something to that, so I figured we could buy some cookies… You know what? Let’s make them, that’ll be fun. Then once we’ve done that… we should probably get something to eat and head to the party.”

“Okay,” Shiro nodded. “How do we make cookies?”

“Have you never made cookies before?” Lance asked, tilting his head.

Shiro bit his lip and shook his head. “I’ve never had to do such chores.”

“Right, ‘cause you’re a knight, and everything,” Lance nodded. “Well, these days we mostly do things for ourselves.”

“Right,” Shiro said, nodding. “Well, I’m sure it can’t be too difficult, I look forward to learning a new skill with you.”

Lance laughed softly. “Go upstairs and shower while I get the ingredients, okay?”

Shiro nodded and Lance got out of his lap, watching Shiro head upstairs. He went into the kitchen and got the recipe up, getting various things out of the cupboard along with bowls and scales, looking up as Shiro came down not that long after.

“If I show you how to measure things out do you think you can manage that while I shower?” Lance asked and Shiro nodded eagerly.

“Yes, of course,” he nodded.

Lance turned on the scales and showed him with the sugar, pointing to the number on the recipe and how it correlated with the number on the scale. He left Shiro to handle measuring things out while he went upstairs, trying to shower fairly quickly as he wasn’t entirely too sure how much he trusted Shiro with this task, coming back down not too long after.

“Shiro- what?” Lance asked, eyes wide as he came into the kitchen.

“Uh, the flour and I had a little bit of a disagreement,” he said with a sheepish smile.

Lance opened his mouth and closed it again, looking at the kitchen, which was now covered in flour. As was Shiro.

“I can see that,” he said, taking the bag from him and finishing measuring things out. “You- go and shower again.”

“Okay,” Shiro said sheepishly, retreating upstairs.

Lance cleaned the kitchen while he was gone, not focusing too much on it, as he figured they would only make more mess after this, but at least there wasn’t flour covering every surface anymore. Shiro came back down, and Lance held the recipe out to him, telling him to read it out.

They then started mixing the ingredients together, Shiro pretending badly that he wasn’t bothered about stirring, but Lance could tell that he wanted to. He tentatively gave him the bowl and let Shiro mix everything together until it was nice and creamy. Thankfully, he only spilled a little, and the cookies were ready to go in the oven, after spooning the mixture out onto the tray.

“I’m sorry about the mess,” Shiro said guiltily as they set a timer.

“It’s okay,” Lance said with a shrug. “I used to make cookies with Clara all the time, so I’m used to it.”

They took the cookies out of the oven once they were cooked, finishing the movie that they’d put on, and once it got to late afternoon, Lance drove them out to a diner to get some food. Going out for a meal with Shiro was always interesting, as sometimes the restaurants had clever names on the menu, and Shiro had no idea what they were. Lance would always order for him like he was a child, and Shiro would always demand more hot chocolate.

It was fun. Being with Shiro was fun. Coming home, Lance put the cookies in a tin and then lead Shiro upstairs to look for something to wear.

“What’s wrong with these clothes?” Shiro asked, looking down. “I’ve become rather fond of this shirt,” he said.

“It’s a smart-casual party, which means you have to wear something a little nicer,” he said.

“Right,” Shiro nodded as Lance opened the wardrobe in the spare room, looking to see what he could find.

Eventually, Shiro was dressed in some nice black pants and a dress shirt, and he looked very handsome. Lance went into his room to find something, meeting Shiro downstairs once they were both ready.

“You look very nice,” Shiro said as Lance came down, a soft flush on his cheeks.

“Thank you,” Lance said, biting his lip as he smiled. “So do you. I need to call a taxi, because we’ll probably have something to drink.”

“Taxi?”

“Uh… Someone to drive us there,” he said and Shiro frowned, clearly not following. “It’s against the law to drive under the influence of alcohol.”

“Right,” he nodded. “Where do we find this taxi?”

“We just call one, and it’ll come right to us,” Lance said, getting his phone out and ordering one.

“Where is it?”

“Shiro,” Lance said, giving him a look. “It’s on it’s way.”

Shiro grinned, biting his lip. “So what shall we do until then? Do we need to dance at this party? Is it like a ball?”

“No,” Lance said shaking his head, and Shiro looked a little disappointed. “It’s just a party. Like… we all just hang out and chat, and there’s music, and we have drinks and stuff.”

“Right,” Shiro said, nodding. “So we don’t dance?”

“Well… you can I suppose. But it’s not really a dancing party.”

Shiro hummed, extending his hand to Lance, who looked at it sceptically, but took it anyway, letting Shiro pull him in.

“If it’s not a dancing party, then I suppose we shall have to dance here instead,” he said with a smile and Lance couldn’t help smiling back, letting Shiro sway and twirl them around.

“I don’t normally do that much dancing,” Lance said. “Or, not this kind, at least.”

“What other kind is there?” Shiro asked, tilting his head, dipping Lance.

“One day I’m going to take you clubbing,” Lance said with a giggle, imagining Shiro in that setting.

“Clubbing? That sounds fun,” Shiro said. “What’s that?”

“Well, it’s a place where we do a different type of dancing, and also get drunk,” he said.

Shiro nodded, making a noise of affirmation. “That sounds fun,” he said again.

Lance let Shiro swirl him around, before his phone went off, telling him that the taxi was here. Lance let go of Shiro reluctantly and grabbed up the cookies, leading Shiro out to the car. It didn’t take too long to get there, and Lance gave the host their cookies once they got in, people already filling the room and milling around.

Lance knew quite a few of them, but there were lots that he didn’t, too, and he kept a hold of Shiro’s hand as he lead him in, Shiro looking around at all the decorations in wonder.

“These people have a far bigger tree than we do,” he observed, and Lance laughed.

“Well, when you have a big house like this, you can have a bigger tree,” he said.

“I can?” Shiro asked.

“Not you,” Lance snorted. “I mean, if you have a big house, then yes, but I didn’t mean you-you.”

Shiro giggled. “I’m only teasing.”

“It’s hard to tell with you,” Lance said, rolling his eyes playfully.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and Lance turned around to talk to them, Shiro wandering off by himself for a minute. Lance tried to keep an eye on him, but there wasn’t much he could do to get away without being rude, so he exchanged pleasantries with the couple, talking about mundane things like his job and the weather.

After talking to a few more people, Lance finally caught sight of Shiro by the snack table, examining the different foods that were on there.

“I made those,” he said excitedly as someone picked up one of their cookies. “Well, Lance and I did. Lance made them better than I did, I just got four everywhere,” he said regretfully, and Lance laughed softly, walking over to him.

“You did some very good mixing,” Lance reassured him, and Shiro perked up a little. “Have you tried one?”

Shiro shook his head, and Lance picked one up off of the plate, breaking it in half and giving one half to Shiro who immediately took a bite and made a happy sound.

“It’s really good!” he said.

“It is,” Lance agreed.

Lance lead them over to the drinks table next, pouring them both a glass of wine and introducing Shiro to a few people, advising him quietly to maybe not mention the whole knight situation, which Shiro dutifully agreed to, though Lance could tell how he was holding himself back. It was sweet really, how eager Shiro was to get to know everyone. Like a big oversized puppy.

The party went by fairly quickly, and before they knew it they were out in the snow, waiting for the taxi to pick them up.

“Why are there these plants everywhere?” Shiro asked, pointing to some mistletoe that was dotted around.

“It’s an old tradition,” Lance explained. “If you get caught under the mistletoe with someone you’re supposed to kiss.”

“Oh,” Shiro nodded. “Caught under?”

“Yeah, like if you’re standing underneath it with someone,” he said.

“So… like us? Right now?”

“What?”

Shiro raised an eyebrow and pointed up to where there was a sprig of mistletoe above them.

“Uh…” Lance said, looking back at Shiro. “It’s just a silly tradition,” he said. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Oh,” Shiro said, looking a little disappointed. “Okay.”

Lance averted his eyes and didn’t say anything, glancing back at Shiro quickly and finding him still looking at him.

“And if I did want to,” he said softly. “Could I be so bold as to?”

Lance’s breath caught in his throat as he opened and closed his mouth a few times. “I… You could,” he said.

Neither of them moved for a few moments as they stood there just looking at one another, and then Shiro gently tipped Lance’s chin up towards him as he leaned in, pressing a very gentle kiss against his lips and lingering there for a few moments before pulling back.

Lance finally remembered to breathe as he let his eyes flutter open to look at Shiro. They looked at each other for a few long moments, unsure of what to do, before Lance slid a hand around the back of Shiro’s head, pulling him back down and kissing him again. Shiro made a soft sound of surprise against his lips, kissing him back and sliding an arm around Lance’s waist, pulling him in close. They moved their lips together, smiling against each other’s lips, pulling back for a breath and nudging their noses together.

“Shiro… your necklace…” he said, looking down for a moment to see the amulet that Shiro always wore was glowing around his neck.

Shiro’s eyes widened, taking it in his hand and looking at it, and then looking back at Lance, opening his mouth and closing again. “I have to go,” he breathed.

“What?” Lance asked, eyes wide.

“I… fulfilled my quest,” he said, cupping Lance’s face and kissing his forehead.

“Shiro…” Lance said, bottom lip trembling as Shiro pressed a soft kiss to them, and then another and another, and then he was gone.

Lance blinked at the empty space in front of him, eyes filling with tears.

“Shiro?” he asked, looking around. He bit down on his lip, swallowing thickly.

Shiro was gone. He was really gone, and they hadn’t even had a chance to have a proper goodbye. The taxi honked the horn and Lance jumped, slipping into the back of the car and telling the man his address. The man drove him home and Lance gave him some cash, getting out of the car and walking inside.

What had just happened? Lance looked around, the kitchen still moderately flour stained and pillows on the sofa all creased from where they’d slept last night. Shiro was gone. He really was a magical time travelling knight from the fourteenth century after all, and now he was gone.

Did Lance have any right to be hurting like this? Over someone he’d only known for a week? After they’d… kissed like that and everything? Lance flicked his lights off and went upstairs to bed, walking straight past Shiro’s – the spare room, and entering his own, pulling his clothes off and getting in bed.

It wasn’t as though he was in love with Shiro, of course. They’d only just met, but… for someone that had closed himself off from everyone for so long, he’d let Shiro in, he’d let himself be vulnerable, let himself think that maybe there was a chance for love after all. And now it was gone. He was gone.

Lance had already gotten so used to having Shiro around, and the house already felt empty without him. This time a week and a half ago Lance had been fine. Lonely, but fine. Perfectly happy not knowing that Shiro ever existed, and now here he was, curled up in bed with the covers pulled up tightly around him trying not to cry.

He was never going to see Shiro again. What could his quest possibly have been? If it had have been a few more hours… No, Lance couldn’t be so selfish. Shiro didn’t belong here, he wanted to go home. He’d wanted to be home in time for his brother’s knighting ceremony, and now he could. He was back home where he belonged. But hell, if Lance wasn’t going to miss him.

Shiro was the kind of person that was a sure thing. Yes, they’d only known each other a week, but if Shiro had have stayed here longer; a few months maybe, then there was no question about it, Lance would have fallen in love with him. It was a sure thing. And now… now that was gone. Lance had only just gotten over his last broken heart, and now he was going to be nursing this one right through the holiday season. It wasn’t fair. Why did Shiro have to come in the first place, if he was only going to leave again? Who sent him here for his quest and why? It wasn’t fair.

Lance eventually fell asleep, waking up the next morning slowly, and blinking a few times before he remembered the events of the previous day. Shiro had kissed him. He’d wanted to kiss him, and he had, and then… he’d gone. He was gone now.

He sat up in bed, looking at his phone. Christmas morning. He got up and had a shower, getting dressed and heading downstairs. He’d been living alone here for months now, but already the house seemed emptier than it had in a long time, and there were reminders of Shiro everywhere. The tree he’d picked and that they’d decorated together, his sweater lying over the arm of the couch. The couch that they’d slept on together.

Lance blew out a long breath and closed his eyes. He’d promised Clara that Shiro was going to be coming for Christmas. She wouldn’t understand where he’d gone; he could tell her that he really was a real knight and it had been time for him to go home, but he didn’t know what he was going to tell Rachel and Michael. He couldn’t exactly tell them that.

It wasn’t doing him any good sitting around at home moping, so he put on his coat and boots and went out to his car, driving over to his sister’s house. Rachel opened the door, pulling him into a hug and then looking out to Lance’s car to see if Shiro was there. He wasn’t.

“Where’s-?”

“He’s gone,” Lance said, cutting her off.

“What happened? Did you guys have a fight?” she asked, ushering him into the house.

Lance shook his head. “No,” he said, taking his coat and boots off. “No, he had to go home.”

“Oh,” she said, frowning. “I thought he was staying for Christmas.”

“So did I,” Lance said with a watery smile, shrugging.

“Oh, Lance,” Rachel said, pulling him into a hug. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Lance said, pulling back and sniffing, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s fine. We only knew each other a week anyway. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

Rachel gave him a sympathetic smile. “Let’s sit down and get you a drink, and we’ll have a lovely day, alright?”

“Alright,” Lance nodded. “Thank you.”

“Clara wants to go back to the Christmas fair later, so that’ll be fun, too.”

“Yeah,” Lance nodded. He didn’t really feel like going to a Christmas fair – especially as that was where he’d first met Shiro, but he didn’t mind. It was Christmas, and he was at least going to _try_ to have a good day.

They went into the living room and sat down, Lance saying hello to Michael and Clara. They put on a Christmas movie and snuggled up with blankets on the couch while they opened presents, and honestly, it wasn’t too bad. Lance managed to get his mind off of things, and start to enjoy himself a little.

“Uncle Lance?” Clara asked as they put their coats on to go to the fair.

“Yes, sweetie?” Lance asked.

“Where is Sir Shiro? I thought he said he was going to spend Christmas with us.”

Lance bit his lip. “Shiro had to go home,” he said softly. “His brother was being knighted today, and he didn’t want to miss it.”

“Oh,” she said. “So, he’s coming back afterwards?”

“I don’t know,” Lance said. “I think he might have to stay there, it’s… it’s a very long way away.”

“But Shiro’s magic, he can travel in time,” she said knowledgeably.

“Well… not voluntarily,” Lance said. “He completed his quest while he was here, so then he had to go home.”

“Oh,” she said sadly. “So… he’s not coming back?”

“I don’t think so, sweet pea,” Lance said, shaking his head.

“But I thought you two were in love,” she said.

“No, honey, we haven’t known each other long enough to be in love. It’s okay, he wanted to go back home.”

She nodded sadly and thankfully dropped it. They had the radio on in the car on the way, and blasted Christmas songs that Lance reluctantly joined in with, unable to help himself. They arrived soon after, parking up and heading into the carnival, Clara excitedly dragging them around different rides.

The experience was much the same as the first time they’d come, Clara making them go on all the rides again, and everyone feeling thoroughly sick after the teacups. She went to see Santa, and then Rachel dragged them around the stalls, which Lance was secretly pleased about, picking up a few bits.

“What’s going on over there?” Clara asked, pointing to where a crowd had gathered.

“I don’t know,” Rachel replied. “Let’s go and find out,” she said, and they walked through the crowd, trying to see what everyone was looking at.

“Lance!”

The crowd parted, leaving Lance alone in the centre, and he looked up, mouth falling open to see Shiro sitting on top of a majestic black horse.

“Shiro?” he asked. How was he here?

He dismounted off of the horse and walked over to him, cupping Lance’s cheeks and pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

“You were my quest,” he murmured softly. “I knew I had to find a way back to you.”

“But- how?” Lance asked, face breaking into a smile.

“I went back to find the old woman, and convinced her to let me return to you.”

“But what about your brother?” he asked.

“Told me not to be a bloody idiot and leave you here,” Shiro smiled. “I know we haven’t known each other all that long, but… I feel like I’ve known you forever. And I don’t want to leave you.”

“I don’t want you to leave me, either,” Lance said softly.

“When you said that I’d always have a place to stay…” Shiro said, biting his lip.

“I meant it,” Lance said, taking his hand.

Shiro smiled and lifted Lance’s hands to his lips, kissing his knuckles. “I missed you.”

“You were only gone a night,” Lance said in a soft tease.

“I missed you,” Shiro said again and Lance leant up to kiss his cheek.

“I missed you, too,” he said. “So much.”

“All right love birds,” Rachel said, dragging them both away. “Show’s over.”

Sherwyn whinnied softly and walked after them, nudging his nose into Shiro’s shoulder.

“I’m not sure what we’re going to do with him,” Lance said, eyeing him doubtfully. “But we’ll figure something out,” he said, seeing Shiro’s face.

“So, you decided to come back, hm?” Rachel said, looking at him sceptically. “Decided not to break my little brother’s heart on Christmas?”

“I didn’t have a choice,” Shiro squeaked and Lance went red. “But of course I came back, I… have very strong feelings for your brother.”

Rachel made a non committal sound and eyed him up and down. “Well, I suppose I’ll give you a chance, then.”

“See, Uncle Lance?” Clara said, tugging on his sleeve. “I knew he wasn’t really gone, and I _knew_ you were in love.”

Lance laughed softly as he felt himself flush and Shiro wrapped an arm around his waist.

“I’m incredibly sorry for the troubles I have caused,” he said, bowing his head. “I hope I can make it up to you.”

“A gentleman,” Rachel hummed. “Yeah, you can keep him, Lance.”

“Thanks,” Lance said flatly.

Rachel, Michael and Clara got back into the car and Shiro helped Lance up onto Sherwyn to ride him home. Lance really had no idea what on earth they were going to do with their new pet horse, or how to even take care of a horse, but he supposed that Shiro did, so it was okay. They’d figure it out. They rode back home, Lance leaning back against Shiro’s chest as he showed him the way to Rachel’s house, Shiro helping Lance dismount when they got there.

“I’m sorry for leaving,” Shiro said softly.

“It’s not your fault,” Lance said, shaking his head. “Thank you for coming back.”

“I couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing you again,” he said and Lance smiled softly.

“Me neither,” he said, leaning up to press a soft kiss to his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> this is so dumb jfc anyWAY comments are greatly appreciated


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